Mother may have 'swerved to avoid kangaroo' in fatal New Year's crash

TRAGEDY: An eight-year-old girl has been killed in a crash near York early this morning. Source: PerthNow

POLICE are calling for witnesses to a crash which killed an eight-year-old girl just minutes after midnight yesterday, believing the girl's mother may have swerved to miss a kangaroo.

Police are appealing to an witnesses to the crash to come forward.

It is believed the crash on Great Southern Highway near York was caused when the girl's mother tried to swerve to avoid hitting a kangaroo.

It was the first death on WA roads for 2013 and the seventh over the festive period.

The 30-year-old mother was driving a gold Toyota Echo with her two daughters aged two and eight in the back seat.

They were headed west along the Great Southern Highway from York towards Perth, when about 6km east of Berry Brow Road, Wundowie, the car veered off the road and hit a large tree, trapping the two children in the car.

The girls had to be cut free from the wreck and the RAC Rescue helicopter airlifted the three, but the eight-year-old died on the way to hospital.

The mother is in Royal Perth Hospital with serious injuries and her two-year-old daughter is being treated in Princess Margaret Hospital for minor injuries.

Investigators would like to hear from anyone who was in the area and may have seen the crash, seen the vehicle before the crash or anyone who helped them prior to emergency services arrived at the scene.

Anyone with any information is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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